When You're Gone
by Aiden Short
Summary: The Marauders at a muggle boarding school.
1. Chapter 1

He climbed up the steep staircase slowly, his lonely footsteps echoing loudly in the empty building. Reaching the top of the stairs, he paused for only a moment before continuing down the hall, the floorboards creaking softly under his feet. The door at the end of the hall squealed painfully as he opened it and gazed into what would be his new room. The wallpaper was dark and peeling and large dust bunnies huddled in the corners of the room. Two little beds sat side by side with two small chests lying at their feet, illuminated only by the dirty window across from them. Remus sighed as he plopped his battered old suitcase down on the dingy bed closer to the door.

Thunderous footsteps crashing up the stairwell caused him to jump, whipping around in time to see three scruffy looking boys looming in the doorway.

There was silence for a moment as the four boys watched each other.

"Who's taking this room?" The shortest of the boys finally broke the silence. He was chubby with short blonde hair on his head and a worried expression on his face.

The tallest boy laughed wholeheartedly and pinched they chubby boy's side, causing him to squeal like a pig. "You will Pete!" he said as though it was obvious and ran a careless hand through his unruly black hair.

Pete did not like that arrangement. "I don't want to share a room with some weirdo I don't know! You take this room James!"

James shrugged, adjusting his large round glasses. "I don't want to share with him either. You take the room." Remus tried not to feel offended.

The third boy, who through all this had stared at Remus with an unreadable expression, finally spoke up with cool confidence. "I'll take this room, you guys can grab the one next door. I don't mind sharing with a weirdo."

He winked at Remus.

Remus blanched.

James and Pete shrugged indifferently and raced to the next room to claim beds. The confident boy strode into the room as though he owned it, dropped his bag in the middle of the floor, and flopped down on the bed Remus had chosen, resting his feet on Remus' suitcase. He moved gracefully and as though he hadn't a care in the world. Everything about him seemed perfect, from his long dark hair to the deep eyes that stared at Remus so intently. His alluring presence made Remus rather nervous and he had no idea how he would be able to share a room with this boy for an entire semester.

"So love, it's just you and me," the boy shot him an award winning smile. "Name's Sirius. What's yours?"

"R-rem-mus," the shy boy stuttered out, blushing pitifully at being addressed by such a perfect creature.

Sirius looked at him thoughtfully. "That's a pretty name. Matches your pretty face."

Remus laughed nervously as he brushed his long, tawny fringe out of his amber eyes and turned to the window hoping Sirius wouldn't pay him any more attention. He could feel those eyes were still on him though.

A heavy silence settled over them, smothering them, making it hard for Remus to breathe. He hoped Sirius wouldn't just forget about him.

Unfortunately for Remus, this was only the beginning.


	2. Chapter 2

"YOU FART FACE!"

The noise was insufferable. Remus sat in a corner at the far end of the room while Sirius and his obnoxious friends jumped on the beds and screamed obscenities at each other. It had only been two days since they all had arrived for their first year at the boarding high school, and already Remus couldn't stand "The Marauders" as the annoying boys called themselves. It was either uncomfortable stares and awkward silence from Sirius or a full frontal assault on his eardrums and pure chaos in his room from James and Peter. Classes started tomorrow, and Remus wanted to review the syllabus to prepare. But if the havoc continued, he would never get it done.

"How dare you insult my beautiful face," Sirius exclaimed indignantly and pushed James off his bed. Sirius jumped off after him, landing on James' stomach.

"Oof!" James moaned from the force of the impact.

Sirius and James began to roll around the floor wrestling while Peter jumped on Remus' bed chanting a mantra of "Fight, fight, fight!"

Remus buried his nose in his book and did his best to block out the noise. The irritation bubbling in the pit of his stomach did nothing to help his predicament, in fact it made him feel as though he might puke. All he could do was hit the book against his forehead as he read the same line over and over again.

"Hey Remus!"

Remus glared from behind his book, but nobody noticed.

"Wanna here some amputation jokes?" James asked.

"Not really," Remus frowned worriedly, knowing they would tell them anyway.

Peter jumped from Remus' bed to Sirius'. "Tell 'um James!"

"What do call a guy with no arms and legs hanging on a wall?" James smirked. "Art!"

Peter threw himself down on Sirius' bed as he laughed hysterically. Remus rolled his eyes as he tried to return to his book. But the Marauders weren't finished yet.

"What do you call his arms and legs?" Sirius asked.

"Pieces of Art," James hunched over in his typical bad posture and ran his hand through permanent his bedhead.

"What if he doesn't have a tongue?"

"Tasteless art."

Peter kicked his legs in the air, almost in tears. Remus tried to block them out by plugging his ears.

"What do you call a woman with one leg shorter than the other?" James asked getting really into the act now. "Eileen!"

Sirius threw his head back as he laughted.

James grinned even wider. "What do you call a Japanese woman with the same problem? Irene!"

Peter gasped for air he was laughing so hard.

"What do you call her when she gets it fixed? Noreen."

Finally Remus couldn't take it anymore. "That isn't even funny."

James ignored him. "What do you call a guy with no arms and legs that everyone takes a dump on? John!"

Peter fell off the bed.

"You're giving me a headache." Remus messaged his temples.

Sobering up quickly, Sirius put his hand on James' shoulder, but stared at Remus as he spoke. "Maybe we should move to your guys' room and let Remus study."

Shrugging, James exited the room, Peter following. Sirius gave Remus one last look before going after them.

Remus felt very grateful towards his strange roommate. Creepiness aside, Sirius could be a very considerate person, Remus was finding out.

Though he could still here the boys through the paper-thin walls, compared to before, it was practically silent. With a sense of peace, Remus returned to his book.


	3. Chapter 3

Things went fairly smoothly the next day.

Remus was able to find his classes without much difficulty, so he wasn't late. Every subject was very interesting and all his teachers seemed fairly nice, especially Ms. Rose, a homely woman with kind brown eyes, a permanent smile, and a small bump of a stomach, indicating she was a few months pregnancy. Sirius was in most of his classes, but he didn't bother Remus too much.

Yes, everything was going well. Until lunch, that is.

The cafeteria stretched out before him like the African savanna, full of dangerous predators that would chew him up and spit him out. Though he didn't know who they would be yet, he knew they were there. They always were. But if he wanted get to the watering hole, he had to walk past the lions. He just had to be careful, not draw any attention to himself.

Prior to today, there had been many teachers casting a watchful eye upon the students at the boarding school as they ate. Now they left the students to fend for themselves, save the lunch monitor and the food servers, all of whom did not seem too concerned with what was actually going on in the cafeteria. Today was a whole new game.

He managed to get his food without any problems. But he still had the most dangerous part ahead of him, finding a place to sit.

Remus scanned the tables, looking for an empty one. Upon seeing they were all full, he decided his best course of action would be to sit the Marauders, even if they were annoying. They were they only kids he knew, and they were generally pleasant to him. It would be safer than trying to sit with someone new.

As he journeyed to the decided table, a foot came out of nowhere causing him to trip and spill his food on the floor. Laughter erupted across the cafeteria as Remus pulled himself off the floor, feeling sure he had bruises on his knees.

The owner of the foot laughed the hardest and there was an evil glint in his little black eyes. "Did the little baby fall down and drop all his num-nums on the floor?" he taunted making the laughter grow louder. He was sitting, but it was clear that he was very tall. He was rather heavy too and his low voice indicated he was a senior. "Don't cry baby!"

Fighting back tears, Remus quickly gathered his food off the floor hurried away. He threw his spoiled lunch in the trash and left the cafeteria.

He'd found the lion.


	4. Chapter 4

"Remus?"

Looking up at the sound of his name, Remus saw Sirius standing in the doorway to their room looking concerned.

"You weren't at dinner," Sirius walked to Remus' bedside tentatively and sat down beside him. "I brought you some food. I know you didn't eat lunch either, so you've got to be starving!"

Remus smiled gratefully as Sirius handed him a slice of bread wrapped up in a napkin.

Sirius looked down and scratched the back of his head. "I know it's not much, but it was all I could sneak out. Can you believe they don't let you take food out of the cafeteria?"

Laughing, Remus looked at Sirius fondly. He couldn't believe that Sirius had actually thought of him. He gave Sirius a side hug. "Thank you. This is more than I could have ever hoped for."

Sirius retuned his hug and blushed a bit. It was a funny thing to see him do so, he normally was the essence of confidence. Remus chuckled at the change as he took a bite of the cold bread. He moaned, it tasted so wonderful on his empty stomach.

"Was that guy who tripped you the reason you didn't come down for dinner?" Sirius asked quietly as Remus tried and failed to savor the bread. He nodded to Sirius' question as he gulped down the last bite. "That jerk! I could kick his sorry fat ass!"

"That's awfully kind of you to offer, but it'd probably be better if you didn't get detention because of me," Remus advised. Still, he was grateful that Sirius would defend his honor.

Sirius huffed. "Fine."

"Besides," Remus grinned mischievously. "He'd probably crush you."

"You take that back!" Sirius gasped in outrage, tickling Remus relentlessly. Remus laughed breathlessly as he tried to fight away Sirius' fingers. Sirius laughed too as Remus fell on his back and Sirius straddled his legs so Remus couldn't kick him.

"Mercy! Mercy!" Remus finally wheezed out when he really couldn't breathe anymore and Sirius' stopped immediately. They both smiled widely at each other as the caught their breath.

Maybe Sirius wasn't so bad after all.


	5. Chapter 5

From that day forward Sirius and the other Marauders acted as Remus' bodyguards in the cafeteria and any other place they possibly could. Remus was still alone often, and his bully, Jimmy, still taunted him, but it felt nice to know that he finally had some friends. To be honest, the past few months had been the best of Remus' life.

"See you later Ms. Rose!" Remus called behind him as he left the classroom and headed to lunch. He'd stayed behind to help his favorite teacher clean up her classroom. She was almost six months pregnant now, and had a hard time moving with her swollen ankles.

Remus whistled happily to himself as he headed to the cafeteria until he was suddenly knocked off his feet.

"What do we have here?" a cold voice sneered above him making Remus shiver. "Looks like the lame little puppy is all by himself."

Remus worked up the courage to face him. "What do you want Jimmy?"

"Where's your friends, little puppy?" Jimmy smirked viciously. "Leave you all alone."

He couldn't stop himself, "It's 'where are you friends' not 'where is'."

WHAM!

The urge to puke came over Remus as he was kicked in the stomach. He coughed and tried to crawl away, only to be kicked again.

"Hey! Leave him alone!"

Sirius came running out of nowhere and punched Jimmy square in the jaw before he even knew what hit him. Sirius grabbed Remus' hand and hauled him off the ground. Together they ran as fast as they could until they got to a bathroom and locked the door behind them.

For a moment all they could do was pant as they tried to catch their breath. Then what happened caught up with Remus.

"I can't believe you punched Jimmy in the face."

Sirius only smiled sheepishly and shrugged.

"Why would you do that?" Remus exploded, feeling angry for some reason. "He's going to kill you now!"

"I had to!" Sirius defended.

"Why?" Remus demanded.

"Why? He hurt you!"

"Why should that matter?"

"Because I love you"

Before Remus could even fully think about that, Sirius was kissing him. A jolt of electricity ran through him and his stomach dropped. He gripped Sirius' shirt hard and pressed himself close. The kiss was new and strange, but it felt good, so he kissed back.

When they broke apart, it had been less than a minute, but it felt like an eternity. If only, Remus thought longingly.

Sirius coughed and looked down nervously. "Remus, will you be my boyfriend?"

Remus felt butterflies in his stomach as he smiled. "Thought you'd never ask."

Sirius met his gaze and smiled back. "Today has been rather satisfactory."


	6. Chapter 6

"It's because she has a baby baking in her oven, what do you expect?"

Sirius threw back his head and let out a bark of laughter, causing Remus to pout. They were sitting together holding hands on the top step of a huge staircase in their school. They had decided to skip class today and were enjoying a moment alone. Remus he been a bit apprehensive at first, but they'd already been together for two months and had barely any alone time.

"Don't laugh at me!" Remus pulled his hand away from Sirius' and crossed his arms. Sirius only laughed harder.

"But you're so cute!"

Remus looked away. "I often wonder why I love you."

"It's because I'm so beautiful!" Sirius tossed his hair causing Remus to laugh too. He leaned over and kissed Sirius on the cheek. Sirius put his arm around Remus and Remus rested his head Sirius' shoulder. For a moment, everything was perfect.

Unfortunately it couldn't last.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't a couple of faggots!" Came an evil voice from behind them. They broke apart and whipped around to see the last person they wanted to, Jimmy. There was something sickening about his expression and tone of voice and he cracked his knuckles menacingly.

"What do you want Jimmy?" Sirius asked putting a possessive hand on Remus' thigh. The look of fear in his eyes was one that Remus had never seen before.

"Oh I've just come to return a favor," Jimmy chuckled darkly. "I owe you this Sirius, I think you knew you had it coming."

What happened next Remus would remember forever, and occurred far too fast for him to do anything about it.

Sirius stood quickly as Jimmy rushed at him and landed a punch to his stomach. Neither of them had thought about the fact that they were at the top of a very tall staircase.

"SIRIUS!" Remus shouted in horror, though it made no difference. What was happening couldn't be stopped.

Sirius clutched his stomach as he fell backwards from the force of the punch. It looked as though everything was in slow motion, and Remus could see every detail. The way Sirius' face was contorted in pain, yet the panic from fall was clear as day in his eyes. The way his hair flowed out in front of him and how he tried to reach behind himself to stop his fall, but to no avail. Remus made a grab for him, but though he was so close to him, he was mile away.

Tumbling, turning, crunching, Sirius fell down the stairs.

Remus' stomach squelched horribly at the sight of his boyfriend crumpled and broken at the bottom of the stairs, not moving. He almost tripped down the stairs himself in his haste to get to Sirius, leaving a shocked Jimmy to wallow in the realization of what he'd just done.

Tears stung his eyes and his throat hurt as he pulled Sirius' limp body into his lap and tried to get him to wake up. He called Sirius' name, shook him, begged him to just wake up.

The problem was he wasn't asleep.

The thing Remus would always remember the most was the way Sirius stared ahead without seeing, his once thoughtful eyes empty.

And as Remus cried hopelessly, he didn't even notice the swarm of people who'd come running at the sound of the commotion, didn't even hear them as the shouted for help and asked him if he was alright. Not even when they took Sirius' lifeless body from his arms did he become aware of what was going on around him.

All he knew was that Sirius was gone, and he could never have him back.


End file.
